Learning Style: What we Know, What we Dont Know,

What we Need to Knowand What we Should Do

Find a buddy or two for conversation.

Introduce yourselves.
Talk briefly about:

ASCD Annual Conference

Philadelphia, PA
March 25, 2012

Carol Ann Tomlinson

William Clay Parrish, Jr. Professor
University of Virginia
<cat3y@virginia.edu>

1) How you use the

concept of
learning styles
in your workor
see it used.
2) Why you use it
as you door why
others use it as they do.

Whats the Point?

Readiness

Interest

Gender

Learning
Profile
Culture

Growth

Motivation

Learning
Profile

Learning
Style

Intelligence
Preferences

Efficiency
The concept of LEARNING PROFILE is an umbrella term for a body of research
suggesting four categories of influence on how people approach learning.

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

Learning Profile
IS:

ISNT:

Related to how we take in

& process information

Fixed
Singular

An umbrella term
learning style
A synonym for learning
intelligence preference
style
culture
gender

The concept of learning styles has received much attention

for about 40-50 years.
Over that time, the concept has gained considerable popularity
in classrooms in many parts of the world.
Now, some experts in a variety of fields are strongly
questioningif not rejectingthe concept.
Whats the problem?
What do we know, not know, need to
know?
What should we do?

Fluid

Lets begin by looking briefly at theory and

research related to learning style
Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence.
New York: Cambridge University Press.

Where did the ideas

come from?
Is there research to
support their efficacy
in increasing student
achievement?

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

Human intelligence manifests itself in many spheres. Teaching should

attend to an individuals intelligence preferences.

Tannen, D. (1990). You just dont understand me: Women and men in
conversation. New York: Ballentine.

Gender influences how individuals look at and interact with the world.
When a person is socialized to act one way, and the classroom promotes
a different way of interacting, a mismatch occurs and learning may be
hampered.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of Multiple Intelligences.

New York: Basic Books.

Grigorenko, E. and R. J. Sternberg (1997). Styles of thinking, abilities, and

academic performance. Exceptional Children 63, 295-312.

Students taught with an intelligence preference match outperformed

those taught in a more traditional manner.

Individuals differ in the ways they learn and perform best when learning
aligns with their strengths/preferences. The differences are hard
wired.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African

American children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Curriculum and instruction that matches learning style and intelligence

preference of students from diverse cultures has positive impacts on
learner outcomes.

Sternberg, R., Torff, B., & Grigorenko, E. (1998). Teaching triarchically improves
student achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 374-384.

Students at the primary, elementary, middle, and high school levels who
learned and expressed learning in preferred learning modes
outperformed students who did not have that opportunity.

Grigorenko & Sternberg, 1997.

Sternberg, R., Torff, B., & Grigorenko, E. (1998). Teaching triarchically improves
student achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 374-384.
Saxe, G. (1990). Culture and cognitive development: Studies in mathematical
understanding. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
There are achievement benefits to addressing student intelligence or
thinking preferences during the learning process, even if the final
assessment is not in the learners preferred mode.

1. Neuroscientific research has discovered limited evidence to support the

idea that individuals learn in different ways by using different
neural networks to accomplish similar tasks.
2. There is some evidence related to gender-based learning preferences (for
example, female brains generally use more brain regions to process
language; the brain areas activated during mathematical processing
are different in males than in females).

Sullivan, M. (1996). A meta-analysis of experimental research studies based

on the Dunn and Dunn learning styles model and its relationship to academic
achievement. National Forum of Applied Educational Research Journal 10(1).

3. EEGs show different regions of the brain activated in individuals of the same
gender performing the same task, suggesting that the EEGs are
measuring different cognitive or processing styles.

4. The restrictive environments necessary for fMRI and EEG make it difficult
for researchers to moderate and assess the environmental variables
associated with learning style models.

Addressing a students learning style results in improved achievement

and attitude gains in students from a wide range of cultural groups.

Sousa, D., & Tomlinson, C., (2010). Differentiation & The Brain. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

IDENTIFYING STUDENTSLEARNING STYLES

The term learning styles refers to the way the brain perceives
and processes what it needs to learn. When teachers tailor
their teaching strategies to students learning styles, students
will respond with the optimism they had when they first
entered kindergarten. Students will enter learning
experiences with more confidence and connectedness and
will become active participants in their learning.
Willis, J. M.D. (2007) Brain-Friendly Strategies - Alexandria, VA,. ASCD, pg 52

STUDENTS PREFERRED LEARNING STYLES

Willis,J. M.D. (2007) Brain-Friendly Strategies - Alexandria, VA,. ASCD, pg 4

Instruction geared toward students preferred learning styles is more likely to

evoke positive emotional responses, engaging affective filters to open access
to the brains processing centers. When lessons are adapted for multiple
intelligences, the content is more likely to be personally meaningful, students
move the content to their relational memories for successful patterning and
long term retention. As a result, students will be better able to access the
material at test time. Most important, the information will reach the frontal
lobe regions where the highest levels of cognitive processing take place
where learned information becomes wisdom.
Willis,J. M.D. (2007) Brain-Friendly Strategies - Alexandria, VA,. ASCD, pg 60

With your conversation buddies,

Students benefit by being personally involved
in the subject material with techniques such
as handouts, manipulatives, field experience,
experimentation, or even whole body
movement (total physical response) to
potentiate the implantation of the new
information into memory and improve retrieval
later. Some specific activities include:
1. Multiple forms of review such as concept maps to provide

framework for retrieval.

2. Visual imagery: Visualize the historical event using words
or pictures on paper.
3. Personal relevance: Tie the information to their lives. Think,
write about the connection, and share with a partner.
4. Produce a product or make models
5. Role-play or pantomime.

Talk about:
1) Ideas here that are familiar
to you.
2) Ideas here that are new
to you.
3) How these ideas
measure up
in terms of your
own experiences.

Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning by Judy Willis, M.XC. ASCD p. 18

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

Before we look at the controversy

With all this

backing, whats
the problem??

REMEMBER!
Learning style is NOT
a synonym for Learning Profile.

Its one quarter of the elements in the concept.

WHO is questioning the concept of learning styles?

WHAT are their Issues?

Some (but not all) noted:

The Psychologists

Psychologists
1. There is no real agreement about what constitutes a learning style

Neuroscientists
Sociologists

Many models (over 71 major models)

Overlapping ideas
Makes it difficult to discuss or measure the concept
Taken together, the models operate on contrasting & even
competing ideas. (No common conceptual framework)
2. There are VERY few robust studies on the models
Would require a randomized study of outcomes

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

VAK Model

Howard Gardner

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

Anthony Gregorc

WHAT are their Issues?

The Psychologists (contd.)
4. There is little evidence of validity or reliability for most instruments used to
support the models. (And the authors provide little basis for claims.)
5. Much rests on student self-report on the instruments.
6. Often (not always) little evidence of validity for the concepts in the models.
Models often promoted for self-aggrandizement rather than in a
scholarly/scientific way (commercialism vs. science).
7. Some popular models have nothing to do with learning (e.g. Myers-Briggs)
& yet are used in classrooms as ways to benefit learning.
8. Categorizing students by learning style may narrow teacher perceptions
of student capacity as well as students estimation of themselves.

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

WHAT are their Issues?

WHAT are their Issues?

The Sociologists

The Neuroscientists

1. There is no evidence from neuroscience that validates the concept of

learning style (some disagree, citing some evidence).
2. The way educators talk about using learning styles (e.g. learning the
multiplication tables by singing or learning poetry by drawing)
is counter to the way the brain works (e.g., mathematical
learning/reasoning takes place in a totally different part of the
brain).

1. Use of learning styles to label/categorize individuals has a divisive,

if not racist, effect. We may generalize to a group or determine
that a group does not have particular abilities. In doing that
we limit the possibilities of members of that group to access
courses, careers, etc. that call on the abilities we perceive
that they dont have. (Labeling is not a disinterested process.)
2. Some items on surveys are far from culture-free or culture-fair and yet
are used in culturally diverse settings.
3. There is little research on the impact of culture, race, or economic
status on learningor on how a particular context at a particular
time shapes an individuals approach to learning.

With a colleague or two,

Talk about:
1) the ideas of the psychologists,
sociologists, and neurologists.
2) the implications of those
ideas for classroom
practice.
3) ways those ideas
might change
your practice &
why.

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

Is there ANY support for Learning Styles?

There is widespread face validity to the notion that people learn in different
ways.
There is evidence that people have different aptitudes for thinking & processing
information. (There are few studies to validate the point that
better learning follows match.)
Some models have not yet been tested. Some seem better grounded than others.
It makes sense to help learners understand that they can learn in a variety of
ways and to make informed options about best approaches for
a particular learning task.
It could be that using the VAK system as well as reflective practice learning
leads to more enhanced learning and development because
using multiple pathways to store incoming data improves storage.
Multi-sensory vs. uni-sensory teaching and learning are warranted.
Angela Mary Lisle in a paper presented at the
British Educational Research Association, 2006

STRATEGIES THAT
BUILD NEURONAL
CIRCUITS &
MEMORYSTORAGE
ST

Because manipulation and application of

new information correlates with increased
brain stimulation, direct lecturing and rote
memorization alone are inadequate These
transfers of information will not equip students to use and think about what
they have learned in the productive, meaningful ways associated with longterm memory formation. Multisensory exposure to information, studentcentered activities, and discovery and hands-on-learning experiences, are the
strategies most likely to build strong neuronal circuits and sustained memory
storage (Reeve & Bolt, 1999).

V I S UA L

Willis, J. M.D. (2007) Brain-Friendly Strategies - Alexandria, VA., ASCD, pg 110

teachers should not try to fit their teaching to each childs style,
but rather should become aware of different styles (and help
students also to become aware of different styles) and then
encourage all students to use as wide a variety of styles as
possible. Students need to learn both how to make the best
use of their own learning styles, and to understand the dangers
of taking a limited view of their own capabilities.

V I S UA L

Cited from Adey, Fairbrother, Wilian, Johnson, & Jones (1999, p. 36) in Wiliam, D. (2011).
Embedded formative assessment. Indianapolis, IN: Solution Tree, p. 31

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

What should we DO and NOT DO regarding learning styles?

Should NOT Do

Should Do

Over promote learning styles as a

concept in presentations/coaching,
Use/trust learning styles
inventories unless they are reliable &
valid,
Categorize learners by learning style,
Assign students to learning style tasks
without good cause,
Generalize to an individual or to a group,
Assume there are no differences in the
ways students approach learning,
Confuse learning style with learning
profile,
Eliminate options for exploration and
expression of content,
Use learning style as a proxy for
differentiation.

Take care to explain the term learning

profile and the role of learning
styles in that umbrella concept.
Acknowledge & explain the concerns
about learning styles by some experts.
Be clear that an individual learns
differently in different contexts.
Offer varied ways to take in, explore,
and express learning.
Teach in a variety of ways.
Emphasize the maleability of the brain &
stress the value of students using
all their potentialeven while
capitalizing on their strengths.

Be wary of the reliability & validity of survey instruments.

Refrain from labeling kids.
Know that the same person will learn differently in different contexts.
Concentrate on:
(1) Use multi-modal approaches
to teaching and learning,
(2) Options/choices for
processing & demonstrating
essential content,
(3) Helping students know themselves
as learners so they make wise
decisions about how to approach
learning tasksas well as when &
how to change their approach.

We may YET find...

That what we have assumed to be a learning style works in a different way
than we have assumed.
--increased student-teacher connections
--increased joy in learning
--increased student voice or creativity
--increased variety or novelty in the classroom
--a sense of personal relevance or connection
It may be that neuroscientists are hearing us narrowly because weve
envisioned and explained the concept of learning style more
narrowly than we should have.
There is something in the idea of learning style to which so many people
relate, that its worth continuing to study what goes on in
learning that is something like a learning style.

Based on what we know, decide the degree to which each example is defensible.
Be ready to share the reasoning behind your perspective on each example.

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

10

BOOK REPORT/
BOOK REVIEW VS
. Visual images, printed text, soundtrack

Synthesis Groups Task Card

(Groups of 5 comprised of students with different expressive
strengths.)
Please work with your synthesis group during todays class to:

Word

To analyze or critique a book

Teacher is typically the audience

To introduce or sell the book to a

real audience

1) Review and agree on what you believe is the key understanding or principle
that best reveals the meaning of (makes sense of, is the punch line for) the
unit on the circulatory system.

Or to develop a scene that wasnt in

the book but might have been

2) Find at least four ways/modes to express that key understanding or principle in relation
to the contents of the unit.

Begin with storyboards (need teacher

approval to proceed)

3)

Uses pen/paper or word processing

Seldom includes intermediate
input from teacher
Generally work alone

Uses i-Movies, digital video cameras,

or video cameras

Be sure each mode of expression:

makes clear what the key understanding or principle is,
illustrates how to make sense of what we have been studying,
accurately shows how key knowledge and skills come together to form an
understanding.

4) Be ready to present your own work in two minutes or under.

Can work alone or with a team

5) Be sure everyone in your group can interpret everyone elses work effectively.

4th Grade Science

Kates diagram explaining how a cookie is digested

Howard Miller

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

11

Emma writing a story about the digestion of broccoli

Movie Time.
In this Math Classroom, Look For:
1) Ways in which the teachers approach does
or does not see in line with experts
concerns regarding use of learning style
and why you respond as you do.
2) Why you feel the approach is likely or unlikely
to help students learn and retain the
concept being taught.
3) Other elements beside learning style that may
be at work here to assist learning.
4) Your own questions

Copyright 2012 Carol Tomlinson

A group of students practicing their skit on

the digestion of a slice of pizza

Sources
Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., & Ecclestone, K. (2004). Should we be using learning
styles; What research has to say to practice. The Learning and Skills Research
Centre, London.
Lisle, A. M. (2006) Cognitive Neuroscience in Education: Mapping neuro-cognitive processes
and structures to learning styles, can it be done?
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/157290.htm
Pashier, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork R.: Learning styles: Concepts and evidence.
Learning styles: Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
Bruce Price on a BAM Radio interview called Is the concept of learning styles bogus?
<bamradionetwork.com>
Science Daily. Education (December 17 2009). Learning styles debunked.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases2009/12/091216162356.htm
U-Tube video and related publications by Daniel Willingham
Several publications by Judy Willis, MD (ASCD)

12